Anu-Hkongso (also spelled Anu-Khongso) is a

Sino-Tibetan language Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...

spoken between the Kaladan and Michaung rivers in

Paletwa Township Paletwa Township ( my, ပလက်ဝမြို့နယ်) is a township of Matupi District in the Chin State of Myanmar. It consists of Paletwa and Sami towns and Paletwa is the administrative center for the township. Also known as Arakan Hil ...

Chin State Chin State (, ) is a state in western Myanmar. The Chin State is bordered by Sagaing Division and Magway Division to the east, Rakhine State to the south, Bangladesh to the south-west, and the Indian states of Mizoram to the west and Manipur t ...

, Burma. It is closely related to Mru, forming the Mruic language branch, whose position within Sino-Tibetan is unclear. It consists of two dialects, Anu (''Añú'') and Hkongso (Khongso, Khaungtso). Hkongso and Anu speakers self-identify as ethnic

Chin people The Chin people (, ) are a Southeast Asian people native to Chin State and its neighbouring states of Myanmar.Head, JonathanBurma's 'abused Chin need help' ''BBC News'', Jan 28, 2009, accessed Jan 28, 2009 The Chin are one of the founding groups ...

, although the Anu-Hkongso language is not classified as a

Kuki-Chin language The Kuki-Chin languages (also called Kuki-Chin-Mizo, Kukish or South-Central Tibeto-Burman languages) are a branch of 50 or so Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in northeastern India, western Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh. Most speakers of the ...

.ISO 639-3 Change Request Number: 2011-031
/ref> Most Anu and Hkongso speakers can also speak Khumi.

Varieties

Hkongso and Anu are mutually intelligible. The ''Kasang'' claim to be Hkongso, and live in a small area just to the south of the main Hkongso area, in the villages of Lamoitong and Tuirong. The ''Anu'' live in scattered areas to the west of the main Hkongso area. Anu villages include Bedinwa, Onphuwa, Payung Chaung, Yeelawa, Daletsa Wa, Ohrangwa, Tuikin Along, and Khayu Chaung (Wright 2009:6). The Anu people consider themselves to consist of 4 subgroups, namely ''Hkum'', ''Hkong'' (Hkongso), ''Som'', and ''Kla''. However, the Hkongso maintain that they are an ethnic group equal to the Anu, but are not a subgroup of the Anu. The Kasang (also known as Khenlak, Ta-aw, Hkongsa-Asang, Hkongso-Asang, Asang, and Sangta) consider themselves as ethnic Hkongso, but their language is intelligible with Khumi rather than Anu. Kasang villages include Lamoitong and Tuirong. The

Mru language Mru, also known as Mrung (Murung), is a Sino-Tibetan language of Bangladesh and Myanmar. It is spoken by a community of Mrus (Mros) inhabiting the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh with a population of 22,000 according to the 1991 census, ...

is also closely related to Anu and Hkongso. The Mru had migrated to the

Chittagong Hills The Chittagong Hill Tracts ( bn, পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রাম, Parbotto Chottogram), often shortened to simply the Hill Tracts and abbreviated to CHT, are group of districts within the Chittagong Division in southeas ...

from the

Arakan Hills The Arakan Mountains ( my, ရခိုင်ရိုးမ), also known as the Rakhine Yoma, are a mountain range in western Myanmar, between the coast of Rakhine State and the Central Myanmar Basin, in which flows the Irrawaddy River. It is t ...

Distribution

Hkongso is spoken in the following villages of Paletwa Township. *Bahungtong *Halawa *Kanan *Kanlawa *Lakinwa *Likkung *Pahang *Paletwa *Pawa *Phongphai *Ringrong *Sami *Singkangkung *Tengwa *Tuikinwa *Vadengkung *Youngwa Hkongso subgroups (clans) are Htey (Htey Za), Kamu, Ngan, Gwa, Hteikloeh, Ngai, Rahnam, Kapu, Kasah, Namte, Krawktu, and Namluek. Leimi, Asang, and Likkheng are other languages spoken in the Paletwa Township area.

Phonology

Hkongso has minor syllables (also known

sesquisyllable Primarily in Austroasiatic languages (also known as Mon–Khmer), in a typical word a minor syllable is a reduced (minor) syllable followed by a full tonic or stressed syllable. The minor syllable may be of the form or , with a reduced vowel, as ...

s), which are typical of Mon-Khmer languages (Wright 2009:12-14).

Grammar

Unlike the

Kuki-Chin languages The Kuki-Chin languages (also called Kuki-Chin-Mizo, Kukish or South-Central Tibeto-Burman languages) are a branch of 50 or so Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in northeastern India, western Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh. Most speakers of the ...

, Hkongso (kʰɔŋ˥˩sʰo˦˨) has no verb stem alternation and has SVO word order (Wright 2009).Wright, Jonathan Michael. 2009.
Hkongso Grammar Sketch
'. MA thesis, Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics. Also, unlike Mru and the Kuki-Chin languages, Hkongso has Neg-V word order (pre-verbal negation) instead of the V-Neg order (post-verbal negation) found in surrounding languages.

Varieties

Distribution

Phonology

Grammar

References

Further reading